EU-25: 2004/05 Wheat, Coarse Grains,
and Rice Forecasts by Country

Grain and Feed Production Up from 2003/04

This report provides further background on USDA official estimates released May 12, 2004.

Wheat Area Increase and Yield Improvement from Last Year

USDA estimates 2004/05 European Union (EU-25) wheat production at a record 126.5 million tons, 19.9 million or 19 percent above last year's crop. Harvested area is estimated at 23.2 million hectares, 1.3 million or 6 percent more than 2003/04. The yield for this year's crop is estimated to be 5.45 tons per hectare, substantially above last year's level of 4.87 tons per hectare.

The yield outlook for grains in western Europe is good to very good. Winter wheat planting conditions were generally favorable last fall, with some reports of dryness in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK). Winter moisture was adequate, with the possible exception of deficits in northern France and the Benelux region. Wheat varieties in western Europe require intensive input use, coincident with periodic rainfall. Recent precipitation in northern France has alleviated some dryness concerns.

Current crop conditions in the central European countries are favorable, and a return to average yield and production levels is expected. Weather in central Europe has improved significantly from last season, when drought and winterkill greatly reduced production. The 2003/04 winter was mild, and there has been adequate precipitation over the past 8 to 10 weeks. Yields in the new member states are still expected to be only two-thirds of their western EU counterparts, as has been the case historically.

An EU policy change allowing farmers to reduce the amount of "set aside" land came too late for many farmers to change fall seeding plans. However, there may be a slight increase in spring wheat area, which is typically 3 to 4 percent of the total. Durum wheat is grown exclusively in western Europe, and production is forecast to be 9.1 million tons, up 9 percent from last year.

Country Details

The tables below represent the details of the official USDA EU-25 wheat, coarse grains, and rice area, yield, and production totals. It is provided as a courtesy to USDA customers; countries are listed separately to allow greater understanding of grain and feed production in the European Union.

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Wheat, Coarse Grains, and Total Grain Statistics

EU-25		Country Name	Wheat			Coarse Grains			Total Grain
	Year		2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004
Total Area Harvested (1000 ha)	Europe Central EU	Cyprus	6	6	6	45	45	45	51	51	51
		Czech Rep.	849	650	850	655	750	710	1504	1400	1560
		Estonia	66	70	70	188	178	190	254	248	260
		Hungary	1100	1112	1150	1632	1590	1660	2732	2702	2810
		Latvia	152	140	150	225	180	240	377	320	390
		Lithuania	335	334	340	495	414	490	830	748	830
		Malta	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2
		Poland	2414	2308	2500	5845	5818	5950	8259	8126	8450
		Slovakia	400	310	400	418	485	440	818	795	840
		Slovenia	35	35	35	59	59	58	94	94	93
	Europe Central EU Total	NMS-10	5358	4966	5502	9563	9520	9784	14921	14486	15286
	Europe Western EU	Austria	289	270	285	497	505	510	786	775	795
		Bel/Lux	212	210	220	98	96	93	310	306	313
		Denmark	577	670	630	950	835	845	1527	1505	1475
		Finland	174	190	190	1002	1000	980	1176	1190	1170
		France	5230	4900	5200	4081	4032	4080	9311	8932	9280
		Germany	3015	2965	3200	3925	3885	3875	6940	6850	7075
		Greece	845	600	600	310	365	345	1155	965	945
		Ireland	103	85	105	195	195	200	298	280	305
		Italy	2415	2270	2300	1643	1654	1703	4058	3924	4003
		Netherlands	135	135	135	91	100	89	226	235	224
		Portugal	225	180	175	263	255	255	488	435	430
		Spain	2401	2220	2220	4175	4190	4260	6576	6410	6480
		Sweden	339	410	410	777	735	735	1116	1145	1145
		UK	1996	1835	2000	1248	1220	1200	3244	3055	3200
	Europe Western EU Total	EU-15	17956	16940	17670	19255	19067	19170	37211	36007	36840
EU-25		Country Name	Wheat			Coarse Grains			Total Grain
	Year		2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004
Total Yield (tons/ha)	Europe Central EU	Cyprus	1.67	1.67	1.67	2.22	2.22	2.22	2.16	2.16	2.16
		Czech Rep.	4.55	4.06	4.35	4.11	3.91	3.96	4.36	3.98	4.18
		Estonia	2.24	2.24	2.00	1.90	1.97	1.95	1.99	2.05	1.96
		Hungary	3.55	2.61	3.65	4.50	3.53	4.66	4.11	3.15	4.25
		Latvia	3.11	2.32	2.67	1.74	1.75	1.79	2.29	2.00	2.13
		Lithuania	3.64	3.57	3.60	2.30	2.86	2.33	2.84	3.18	2.85
		Malta	5.00	5.00	5.00	2.00	2.00	2.00	3.50	3.50	3.50
		Poland	3.85	3.40	3.48	3.00	2.66	2.92	3.25	2.87	3.09
		Slovakia	3.89	3.12	3.75	3.67	3.36	3.75	3.78	3.27	3.75
		Slovenia	3.14	2.00	3.43	6.64	4.44	6.28	5.34	3.53	5.20
	Europe Central EU Total	NMS-10	3.84	3.25	3.64	3.29	2.93	3.27	3.49	3.04	3.40
	Europe Western EU	Austria	4.96	4.44	4.88	6.04	5.49	5.80	5.64	5.12	5.47
		Bel/Lux	8.16	8.24	8.18	7.62	6.46	7.20	7.99	7.68	7.89
		Denmark	7.03	7.01	7.14	5.00	5.28	5.14	5.77	6.05	5.99
		Finland	3.27	3.32	3.16	3.31	3.07	3.14	3.31	3.11	3.14
		France	7.44	6.24	7.31	7.50	6.02	7.27	7.47	6.14	7.29
		Germany	6.90	6.51	7.81	5.75	5.06	6.43	6.25	5.69	7.05
		Greece	1.71	1.83	1.83	5.43	4.84	5.03	2.71	2.97	3.00
		Ireland	8.43	8.82	9.52	5.62	6.67	6.60	6.59	7.32	7.61
		Italy	3.18	2.75	3.09	7.49	5.84	7.71	4.92	4.05	5.05
		Netherlands	7.83	9.11	8.52	6.55	6.85	7.13	7.31	8.15	7.97
		Portugal	1.93	1.11	1.20	3.56	3.29	3.80	2.81	2.39	2.74
		Spain	2.83	2.83	2.79	3.36	3.38	3.45	3.16	3.19	3.23
		Sweden	6.23	5.49	5.98	4.31	4.16	4.07	4.90	4.64	4.76
		UK	8.00	7.79	8.00	5.60	5.91	5.72	7.08	7.04	7.14
	Europe Western EU Total	EU-15	5.79	5.34	6.03	5.50	4.90	5.63	5.64	5.11	5.82
EU-25		Country Name	Wheat			Coarse Grains			Total Grain
	Year		2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004
Total Production (1000 tons)	Europe Central EU	Cyprus	10	10	10	100	100	100	110	110	110
		Czech Rep.	3867	2640	3700	2695	2929	2815	6562	5569	6515
		Estonia	148	157	140	357	351	370	505	508	510
		Hungary	3900	2900	4200	7338	5605	7730	11238	8505	11930
		Latvia	473	325	400	392	315	429	865	640	829
		Lithuania	1218	1191	1225	1139	1185	1140	2357	2376	2365
		Malta	5	5	5	2	2	2	7	7	7
		Poland	9304	7858	8700	17534	15489	17400	26838	23347	26100
		Slovakia	1554	967	1500	1535	1632	1650	3089	2599	3150
		Slovenia	110	70	120	392	262	364	502	332	484
	Europe Central EU Total	NMS-10	20589	16123	20000	31484	27870	32000	52073	43993	52000
	Europe Western EU	Austria	1434	1200	1390	3001	2770	2960	4435	3970	4350
		Bel/Lux	1729	1730	1800	747	620	670	2476	2350	2470
		Denmark	4059	4700	4500	4748	4405	4340	8807	9105	8840
		Finland	569	630	600	3320	3070	3075	3889	3700	3675
		France	38934	30580	38000	30622	24260	29660	69556	54840	67660
		Germany	20818	19300	25000	22573	19650	24900	43391	38950	49900
		Greece	1443	1100	1100	1683	1765	1735	3126	2865	2835
		Ireland	868	750	1000	1096	1300	1320	1964	2050	2320
		Italy	7680	6250	7100	12298	9660	13130	19978	15910	20230
		Netherlands	1057	1230	1150	596	685	635	1653	1915	1785
		Portugal	434	200	210	936	840	970	1370	1040	1180
		Spain	6783	6290	6200	14008	14180	14700	20791	20470	20900
		Sweden	2113	2250	2450	3350	3060	2995	5463	5310	5445
		UK	15973	14290	16000	6983	7215	6860	22956	21505	22860
	Europe Western EU Total	EU-15	103894	90500	106500	105961	93480	107950	209855	183980	214450
Total Area Harvested (1000 ha)	European Union	EU-25	23314	21906	23172	28818	28587	28954	52132	50493	52126
Total Yield (tons/ha)	European Union	EU-25	5.34	4.87	5.46	4.77	4.24	4.83	5.02	4.51	5.11
Total Production (1000 tons)	European Union	EU-25	124483	106623	126500	137445	121350	139950	261928	227973	266450

Barley, Corn, and Oats Statistics

EU-25		Country Name	Barley			Corn			Oats
	Year		2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004
Total Area Harvested (1000 ha)	Europe Central EU	Cyprus	45	45	45	0	0	0	0	0	0
		Czech Rep.	488	550	530	71	80	70	61	80	60
		Estonia	132	125	140	0	0	0	38	40	40
		Hungary	372	380	350	1150	1100	1200	60	60	60
		Latvia	137	100	140	0	0	0	47	40	50
		Lithuania	365	307	350	0	0	0	55	48	50
		Malta	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
		Poland	1051	1016	1100	319	356	400	605	527	550
		Slovakia	220	280	230	138	150	150	20	30	25
		Slovenia	11	11	11	45	45	45	2	2	2
	Europe Central EU Total	NMS-10	2822	2815	2897	1723	1731	1865	888	827	837
	Europe Western EU	Austria	201	210	220	171	170	180	32	35	30
		Bel/Lux	57	50	50	21	25	20	8	10	10
		Denmark	824	710	720	0	0	0	55	50	50
		Finland	522	530	550	0	0	0	450	440	400
		France	1643	1750	1670	1831	1670	1800	153	135	130
		Germany	1970	2085	2060	399	470	440	233	260	240
		Greece	110	165	150	140	140	135	45	45	45
		Ireland	176	175	180	0	0	0	19	20	20
		Italy	343	310	320	1112	1160	1200	151	150	150
		Netherlands	57	60	50	24	25	25	2	5	5
		Portugal	12	10	10	139	140	140